The communication gap between law enforcement agencies and the public creates tensions which can cause local incidents to make the national news. Decades in the making, compounded by legal process and policies, this gap reduces a department’s effectiveness at serving its community and enforcing its laws. But it’s not too late for agencies to take steps toward improving those relationships.
This course provides a fresh look at Community Engagement and the role of public communication within a law enforcement environment. Recent examples show the impact of ineffective policies and practices on public safety, its personnel, and the community.
Built upon historically valid principles and techniques, this course provides proven directions for agencies wishing to improve their interaction with the public.
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Agenda
Day One
- Community Engagement: Post Ferguson
- Use Social Media to Direct your Message
- How to Write a Solid Press Release
- How to do the On-Camera Interview with Maximum Impact
- Community Meetings that Convey your Message
- The IMPACT Concept
- Officer Involved Incidents: Because it Will Happen
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Day Two
- Organizing your Community Engagement Model
- Using Statistics to Efficiently Inform Citizens on Crime Trends
- Organizing Community Meetings to Tell your Story
- How to Manage the Negative Community Engagement
- Staying Engaged with the Community
- Holding a Meaningful Discussion with Community Members
- Hard Questions and Honest Answers: Taking the Next Steps
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Sara Spaulding
Sara Spaulding is a veteran public information officer who has served in that role for law enforcement, emergency medical services agencies, hospitals, and non-profit organizations. She received her Bachelor degree and her Master in Communications from Colorado State University. She is Accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America and is a member of that organization’s prestigious College of Fellows. She is a graduate of FEMA’s Advanced PIO program and the FBI-LEEDA Master PIO course.
Over the course of her career, Ms. Spaulding has served in the spokesperson role following the crash of an AirLife medical helicopter in which the crew and one patient were lost, and when wounded Columbine High School students were transported to Swedish Medical Center. Since that time, she has been responsible for deploying animal rescue teams to New Orleans following Hurricane Katerina and responding as a PIO to Colorado blizzards, wildfires and the blowout of the Gold King Mine in Durango, Colorado. As the PIO for the Wheat Ridge Police Department (WRPD), Ms Spaulding responds 24/7 managing media on scene, posting updates and alerts to social media, and working to maintain media relationships built over her 25+ year career in Denver. She has served as a volunteer PIO for five memorial services for Colorado Law Enforcement officers and is currently on the team developing a Line of Duty Death manual for WRPD. She is also an active member of the Emergency Services Public Information Officers of Colorado and the IACP PIO section.
Ms Spaulding has taught FEMA’s PIO, JIC/JIS and Social Media courses for the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and managed that agency’s ReadyColorado social media accounts. She has also been an instructor for Metro State University of Denver and Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and currently serves as an instructor for the Arapahoe Community College Bachelor of Emergency Service Administration’s Public Information and Media Training course.
She currently resides in Golden, Colorado with husband, dog Maggie and her 23 year old cat Pepper.
Host: POLICE TECHNICAL
Location: Online Seminar 647 Ohio Street Online Seminar, 47807 Get Directions
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